2 Days After Derby, It's Mud Without Roses

By JASON DIAMOS

Published: May 4, 2004

BENSALEM, Pa., May 3 - Once again, the racetrack was a mess from the rain. But for jockey Stewart Elliott, horse racing's man of the hour, that was where the similarities ended.

Last Saturday, in Louisville, Ky., Elliott won the 130th running of the Kentucky Derby on Smarty Jones before 140,000 people, in a race that offered a guaranteed purse of $1 million. It was the first time the unheralded Elliott had ridden in the Derby and the first time he had raced at Churchill Downs, but he skillfully guided his horse through the slop to the winner's circle.

On Monday, with about 1,400 fans looking on at a cold and rainy and mostly deserted Philadelphia Park, Elliott returned to his day job - riding a full assortment of low-level claiming horses at an uninspiring track for purses as scrawny as $7,500.

"Just back to work, that's all," Elliott said as he embarked on a busy day of riding seven horses and receiving a modest but affectionate hero's welcome. "They all can't run in the Kentucky Derby. Some of them are just cheap."

Elliott's first mount of the day - his first time on a horse since the Derby - was a 7-year-old chestnut gelding named The Fat Man. It was the first race of the day, at 12:25 p.m., and it was a contest in which any horse could be claimed from its owners for a mere $4,000.

Elliott is the dominant jockey at Philadelphia Park and The Fat Man was the betting favorite, but he had faded to fourth by the time he crossed the finish line. There was no crowd along the rail as the horses went by, no women in fancy Derby hats. There was hardly any noise at all. And Elliott ended up earning $45 for finishing out of the money - or nearly $600,000 less than he is set to take home for winning the Kentucky Derby less than 48 hours before.

A jockey typically earns 10 percent of a purse for winning a race and 5 percent for finishing second or third. About 25 percent of that amount goes to the jockey's agent, whose job is to keep the client busy with mounts. According to The Daily Racing Form, first place in the Derby was worth $854,800 this year, which would mean Elliott's 10 percent share was $85,480. But Elliott was also expected to be paid 10 percent - or $500,000 - of the $5 million promotional bonus that Smarty Jones won for sweeping the Rebel Stakes, the Arkansas Derby and the Kentucky Derby.

The contrast - $600,000 versus $45 - did not seem to faze the Toronto-born Elliott, whose father, Dennis, rode competitively for more than two decades. "It's just part of the game," he said. "You ride at small tracks. You ride at big tracks. You ride slow horses. You ride fast horses. It's just part of the game."

It is a game at which the 39-year-old Elliott has been successful, by essentially sticking to the small tracks. Elliott, who ended up with one winner on Monday, has captured three consecutive riding titles at Philadelphia Park and is well on his way to a fourth this year. Over all, he has won over 3,200 races in a career that, until now, was out of the spotlight, although not out of the money.

Since Jan. 1, Elliott's mounts at Philadelphia Park have earned more than $1.1 million. Elliott's agent, Ray Lopez, said in a telephone interview that Elliott's mounts earned nearly $5 million last year, which would put Elliott's gross share for 2003 at almost $500,000.

Not bad for a jockey who toils at a track that is in the suburb of a major league town and that serves as the home base for Smarty Jones but simply does not offer the big-league racing available at Belmont or Saratoga in New York, or at Gulfstream in Florida or at Santa Anita in California.

Before Elliott got lucky with Smarty Jones, he was contemplating a move, according to Lopez. He said that unless action was taken soon to install slot machines at Philadelphia Park, which would presumably lead to more revenue and better racing, Elliott would probably move on this summer - to Monmouth Park, near the Jersey Shore.

"Monmouth Park would be the next step up," Lopez said. "And he's done well there before. Basically, we've been here on hold the last year and a half. We can't wait much longer. By Preakness time, we're going to have to do something."

The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of racing's Triple Crown, is scheduled for May 15 at Pimlico in Baltimore. Until then, Elliott, who used words like commitment and obligation in his interviews on Monday, said he would ride a full schedule at Philadelphia Park, where he has clearly put some pride in the premises.

Most horse-racing fans are not overly sentimental - they want to bet and win money - but on Monday they clearly wanted to show their appreciation for Elliott's Derby victory.

"I am so proud of Stewart," said Adrienne Harrison, who said she takes a bus to Philadelphia Park a couple of times a week. "I came today because I wanted to watch the races. And, of course, to honor Stewart Elliott."

The bespectacled Harrison, who described herself as a homemaker and a part-time writer, was bundled against the elements, as she and several dozen other patrons cheered on Elliott in the covered paddock area.

"Let's just say I'm over 50 and leave it at that," said Harrison, who wore a blue-and-white Smarty Jones baseball cap and a pin that read: Smarty Jones. Pennsylvania-bred. The real Philadelphia flyer.

Elliott's fellow riders at Philadelphia Park had been pulling for him to do well in Kentucky, and on Monday they, too, saluted him, at one point taking part in a reception line before the first race.

"It keeps everyone's dream alive," said Harry Vega, who said he has been riding competitively against Elliott for two decades and who is second to him in the jockey standing at Philadelphia Park.

And sometimes you need to dream when you are riding for $45 in the mud and rain.